Packer highlights: Instant starter as a rookie who developed into a three-time Pro Bowl safety from 2008-’10. Team leader who paced Green Bay with seven interceptions in 2008, with three returned for touchdowns. Voted 2009 Ed Block Courage Award winner by teammates. Played in 95 regular-season games.

Green Bay — It's not hard to see how much Nick Collins misses playing the game he loves.

As the former Green Bay Packer safety watched the third-quarter action of the Packers-49ers NFC wild-card game from a Lambeau Field suite, his eyes glistened and his voice cracked slightly as he addressed the subject.

"It's tough, it's tough," Collins said, watching his former teammates sack 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. "There's not a day goes by that I don't think about being out there on the field with my guys.

"The guys that I played with, they're like brothers to me. Charles (Woodson), Tramon (Williams), all those guys with the Super Bowl, of course."

Seated on a couch, Collins was then blindsided by his 4-year-son, Nmare, who jumped on his lap after a running start.

Collins smiled and said, "I got three little boys and they always ask me, 'Are you going back to play football?' I think that's the toughest part about not playing the game.

"They are so used to me doing it; me being out there on the field doing the thing I love most, and that's to play football."

•••

At full speed, the hit that sidelined Collins' NFL career did not seem substantial. A slow-motion review reveals otherwise.

The play occurred early in the fourth quarter in the second game of the 2011 season against the Panthers in Carolina. It was a contest Green Bay would win, 30-23, in a franchise-best 15-1 regular season.

The Panthers had the ball at the Packers' 36-yard line, trailing, 23-13. It was third and 9 with 12:18 remaining.

Quarterback Cam Newton went back to throw and checked down to an uncovered Jonathan Stewart in the left flat at the 40-yard line. Stewart advanced up field with a full head of steam and then cut inside of Charles Woodson at the 33.

He then immediately hurdled a rolling A.J. Hawk, who was blocked to the ground. As Stewart was in mid-hurdle, legs stretched far apart, Collins closed in low for the tackle. The top of his helmet struck on the back of Stewart's muscular upper left thigh, just below the buttock.

The impact appeared to compress his head back awkwardly. Collins slumped to the ground at the 30-yard line and did not get up. He was not paralyzed but felt tingling and numbness throughout his body.

He was immobilized by medical staff and taken off the field on a stretcher, but he managed to wave to the crowd.

•••

Collins underwent exams and spent the night in a Charlotte hospital and then flew back to Green Bay for more tests. After consulting with team physician Pat McKenzie and general manager Ted Thompson, head coach Mike McCarthy announced later on Monday that Collins' 2011 season was over.

"It's tough," McCarthy said. "We've been through the injury stuff before, but it's something you never get used to as a head coach."

His teammates were stunned. Collins, wearing a neck brace and in good spirits, was in the facility and even attended a team meeting earlier in the day.

Safety Charlie Peprah, who would replace Collins, said: "We're still trying to wrap our heads around it, because it went from thinking he was going to be OK to out for the season."

After more evaluation and consultations, Collins flew to New York in late September for spinal fusion surgery on the C-3 and C-4 vertebrae. Renowned surgeon Frank Cammisa removed the herniated disc, inserted a bone graft in its place and secured the vertebrae with a titanium plate.

Collins returned to his Florida home to recover for a few months and then began rehabilitation and working out. The operation was deemed a success and Collins kept in regular contact with the Packers over the winter on his medical evaluations and progress.

On April 25, 2012, his future with the team was decided. Collins was released.

The decision was not easy for the team.

"From the beginning of this process, we have taken our time and sought numerous medical opinions while maintaining consistent dialogue with Nick," Thompson said in a team release.

"In the end, we were not comfortable clearing him to play again. As with all of our players, Nick is a member of our family and we thought of him that way as we came to this conclusion....this is a very difficult day.

"Making this kind of decision is never easy, especially when it involves someone like Nick Collins. He has meant so much to the community, his teammates, and the organization. He is a good man and will always be part of the Packers family."

•••

Collins rose from a second-round draft choice in 2005 from unheralded Bethune-Cookman to become a three-time Pro Bowl player and mainstay in Green Bay's defensive backfield.

"One of my favorite Packers memories is of them drafting me," Collins said. "They took a chance on a small-school guy like myself. It was a blessing and dream come true. I'm very thankful for that."

Expectations were high from the start, as Thompson assigned Collins jersey No. 36, last worn by four-time Pro Bowl safety LeRoy Butler.

Collins did not disappoint, starting all 16 games as a rookie on the NFL's top-ranked pass defense and earning all-rookie team recognition by Pro Football Weekly. Three seasons later, he emerged as one of the NFL's best safeties and earned his first of three straight Pro Bowl selections, becoming the first Green Bay safety since Butler (1996-'98) to do so.

The playmaking safety started in 95 regular-season games and recorded 21 interceptions and nearly 500 total tackles in seven seasons. His career highlight was his interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest postseason defensive plays in franchise history.

"That was the grand finale of the moments, you know," Collins said. "I was able to do something real special that not a lot of guys that played the game can say they had: a touchdown in the Super Bowl."

Collins staked the Packers to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter when he intercepted an underthrown Ben Roethlisberger pass and then showcased his running skills on the 37-yard return, which culminated with a dive into the end zone.

"We knew they liked to take shots when they're backed up in their end zone," Collins said. "I recognized the formation said they're going to take a shot to Wallace. If you watch it, I'm already breaking before he even let the ball go. (Howard) Green made a nice play and was able to get pressure on the quarterback. It made it a little easier for me...but I was going to be there regardless."

The ball was in the air a long time, and Collins wanted to first secure the interception. From his high school days as a running back, he knew what to do afterward.

"I was like, 'Please don't drop it,'" he said with a laugh. "You know, whatever I have to do to catch the ball. That's what I did and I was able to make a couple of moves and get into the end zone. I rushed for 2,000 yards my senior year, so (those moves) were already installed in me."

•••

Today, it's a new ball game for Collins.

The 30-year-old resides in Orlando with his wife Andrea and their four children. Collins' days now revolve around his family, not football.

With kids that range from 2 to 9 years old, school and sports activities keep Collins plenty busy.

"I'm all over, man," he said. "Guys that play the game really don't realize how much you miss until you're out of the game, and you spend time at home every day with them, helping them with homework and stuff.

"You have to make an adjustment and adapt to them, because if you don't, it kind of separates you from your kids, and that's the main thing you don't want to happen. You just enjoy being around them."

In addition to working out, Collins also enjoys golfing, fishing, bowling, skating and ATV cruising.

"Whatever the kids want to do, I do," he said. "And the Packers keep me involved in a lot of stuff, and I also have my foundation that I run. I try to stay busy and keep my mind off the game."

The game. Ever since his high school days in Cross City, Fla., Collins' life has revolved around football. He excelled as a quarterback/running back and defensive back at Dixie County High School, starred in college and made his mark in the NFL.

Is a return to the Packers or another NFL team, which would first require medical clearance and then a willing employer, a possibility in the future?

"Personally, I really haven't made a decision," he said. "I have no control of it, so I'm satisfied. I'm happy, you know. I get to do things with my kids, with my wife that I never thought I'd be able to do until after I finished the game of football. It's an adjustment, but so far, I'm doing pretty good with it."

Collins was coached by his father growing up, and if he can't return to the gridiron as a player, he may one day return on the sideline.

"It was instilled in me at an early age the impact that my father had on me and the impact he had on the other guys," Collins said. "It was special. One day I'm going to get into that. It's always been a goal of mine after I finish playing to go into coaching. Just not right now."